


Return of the Fairy King

by Vegeta413



Category: Sword Art Online (Anime & Manga)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-22
Updated: 2019-11-29
Packaged: 2021-02-18 00:20:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 11,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21518839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vegeta413/pseuds/Vegeta413
Summary: The scumbag is back!Kirito and friends are back enjoying playing ALO when things get weird. (Shocker, right?) Each of them, as well as several other gamers, start experiencing what by all appearances appears to be a specter. As the rumors of the “ghost of Aincrad” spread, Kirito and the others investigate the phenomenon, discovering a hidden dungeon on a shockingly low floor of the floating castle. What they find at the heart of it is an AI named Mato with amnesia, similar to how Yui was when Kirito and Asuna first found her. This AI, however, is male, and about the same age as them. They bring this forward to Rinko Kajiro, thinking it might be a leftover program from Akihiko Kayaba’s original design. Meanwhile, the crew notices that almost immediately after they found Mato, NPC’s in ALO start acting out of character. Monsters leave their areas and attack players they come across, characters in game seem to get a lot more intelligent and appear to be acting sinisterly, and eventually players’s avatars start to get deleted. Kirito and the others take it upon themselves to discover who’s this apparent bug in their favorite game, and what it has to do with Mato.
Relationships: Asada Shino | Sinon/Original Character(s), Kirigaya Kazuto | Kirito/Yuuki Asuna | Asuna
Kudos: 4





	1. The Ghost of Aincrad

Two members of the Salamandra race made their way through a forest in a remote part of Aincrad. One of them was tall and thin, the other a bit stockier, both wearing red armor and helmets. 

“Man,” said the stockier one, “what the hell are we doing all the way out here? There’s no monsters this low that are gonna drop anything valuable.”

The taller one replied. “We’re not after monsters. There have been reports of rare items spawning in this forest.”

“Rare items? Yeah, right.” The stockier Salamander was about to go on a rant about how his friend was always dragging him on goose chases when he felt a hand tap his shoulder. “What was that?”

“What was what?” the taller one asked. 

“Someone just tapped my shoulder.”

“It’s late, you’re imagining things.” 

“Oh really, then what’s that?” He pointed ahead of them, at what appeared to be a teenage boy, pale with dark hair and bright blue eyes, and a white, glowing aura about him. 

“It’s gotta be some kind of quest prompt” the taller one insisted. As they approached the boy, however, they heard a loud, monstrous roar, and he faded away. “Alright, I’ve had a enough. Let’s get the hell out of here!” At that, the two flew away. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Asuna, switch!” Kirito called out as he finished landing a six hit combo on a monster.

Asuna tagged in and began slicing up the foe with her rapier. “Ugh. I think your spell wore off, Leafa.”

“Oh, sorry!” Leafa apologized. She began chanting again and the monster started to slow down. 

“Now’s your chance, Sinon!” Lisbeth called out. 

“Right,” said the blue haired archer as she aimed her bow. “Give me the opening, Asuna...” Just as she said that Asuna pulled away, exposing the monster’s cut up head. “Perfect.” She released her arrow, and it flew right through her target, causing it to explode. 

“Not bad, Sinon,” said Kirito as he and the others regrouped. “It’s almost as if you’ve been playing this game as long as the rest of us.” 

“Ha-ha,” Sinon pretended to laugh. 

“Hey Kazuto,” Leafa said. “Have you ever seen that item drop from a monster before?” 

“No, Sugu, never,” said Kirito. “It looks like some kind of arrow.”

“You should take it, Sinon,” said Asuna. 

“Yeah,” said Klein. “You’re the only one of us who could use it, anyway.” 

“I suppose so,” said Sinon. She claimed the arrow, but frowned. 

“What’s wrong?” Silica asked. 

“It’s not compatible with any of my bows,” said Sinon. “Guess I need a stronger weapon for it.” 

The group went back to their cabin to celebrate the completed quest. 

“Man, you kids are lucky,” said Klein. “I got stuck with the early shift tomorrow and I am not looking forward to it.” 

“Guess you’ll miss out on the ghost hunt,” said Lisbeth. 

“You lost me.”

“Kirito heard about this urban legend and you know he just has to go looking for it,” said Asuna. 

“I believe my exact words were ‘it sounds interesting,’” said Kirito, rolling his eyes. “Which it does. The idea of this guy appearing to players in Aincrad...it sounds...well it sounds like Yui to be honest.” 

“You rang, daddy?” Yui appeared after hearing her name. 

“Kirito’s right,” said Asuna. “When we first found Yui in Aincrad we even thought she was a ghost.” 

“You think there’s another AI like Yui?” Silica asked. 

“Well either that or it’s an actual ghost, said Lisbeth. “Either way I’m all for going after it.” 

“Yui,” said Kirito, “would you know if there were other programs in SAO or ALO like you?”

“Hmmmm,” Yui pondered for a moment.  
“Let me check my database...nope! I’m one of a kind!”

“Well that makes this even stranger,” said Sinon. 

“I suppose I could always reach out to Ms. Kajiro to see if she knows anything about this,” said Asuna. 

“And in the mean time we can do some looking around, ourselves,” agreed Sinon. 

“It’s settled,” said Kirito. “Tomorrow, we go after the ghost of Aincrad!”


	2. Chasing Ghosts

Sinon had her target centered in her scope. She had decided to do some leveling up in Gun Gale Online before she was to meet with her friends in ALO later. 

“Just a little further...” she thought to herself. Suddenly, a branch cracked behind her. She abandoned her rifle, reached for her handgun, and swung around all in one swift motion, but she was met with one tight grip on her wrist and another around her throat. That was when her eyes fell on her attacker’s wrist. He was dawning a symbol on it all-too familiar to her: that of Laughing Coffin, the murder guild from SAO that Death Gun had previously belonged to. Realizing she was no longer in a friendly virtual fight, she went to log out with her one free hand, but before she could access the menu, she was lifted up and slammed on the ground. The attacker pinned her arm to the ground with his knee. He tightened his grip around her throat just enough to make it excruciatingly difficult to breathe, but not enough to force her avatar to lose HP, and that was when it hit her: he just wanted to make her suffer. He was keeping her from logging out but not killing her. 

She struggled to free herself but the player’s strength level was far too high. As she desperately tried to think of a way out, all of a sudden the player was yanked off of her violently and thrown from the ledge they were on. She looked on as the Laughing Coffin member fell to the ground and exploded as his HP hit zero. She then turned to thank whomever saved her, only to be shocked to see a pale white boy, about her own age, with bright blue eyes. 

“Who...who are you?” Sinon asked. The boy simply disappeared. “Was that...the ghost?” She figured she’d log out and inform her friends. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“As you can see,” said Agil, mapping out the first floor of Aincrad as the rest of the group gathered at Dicey’s, “despite the few random sightings in other games, the ghost is most commonly seen on the first floor of Aincrad.”

“Maybe some kid died early on during SAO and now he’s haunting virtual reality,” said Lisbeth, half joking.

“If you buy the whole ghost thing,” said Kirito. “It’s more likely that the Seed program’s bugging out. Since that’s what connects all the games, that would explain why he can appear in other games.”

Just then, Sinon burst through the doors and filled everyone in on what she had just seen in GGO. 

“Well, that whole Laughing Coffin thing is definitely concerning,” said Kirito. “But those thugs can wait for now. What really sticks out about that story is that this is the first time we’ve heard of the boy attacking another player.”

“Attacking?” Sinon asked. “He saved me. Who knows how long that creep would’ve gone on torturing me.” 

“That doesn’t guarantee that his next attack will have an equally guilty target,” said Agil sternly. “Y’all better log in and see what you can find. But be careful. It sounds like whatever this thing is, it’s getting bolder.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later that night, Kirito, Asuna, Leafa, Sinon, Lisbeth, and Silica logged in to look for the ghost. 

“This is such a remote part of the first floor,” said Asuna. “Why would the ghost haunt these parts? There’s hardly any reason to come all the way out here.” 

“I can’t remember the last time any of us even came to the first floor,” said Lisbeth as the group wondered deeper into the woods. 

“Umm, guys,” said Silica. “Is that...?” She pointed at the pale boy that had appeared in the distance. 

“That’s him!” Sinon said with certainty. “Hey, it’s me, remember?” She waved at the boy, but he simply disappeared again. 

“If you’re right, Kazuto, this is one hell of a bug,” said Leafa. 

“Guys, over here!” Lisbeth called as she and Asuna spotted the boy again. But sure enough, as soon as everyone else ran over, he disappeared again. “He sure is shy, isn’t he?” 

“It’s like he’s toying with us,” said Asuna. 

“We’re just chasing our tails at this point,” said Kirito. “Maybe we should turn back and think of a different strategy.” As he said this, he turned around and was met by the boy, standing just a foot away from him. “Hey, wait!” The boy put his hand on Kirito’s forehead, and the two of them vanished. 

“Kirito!” Asuna shouted. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kirito and the boy arrived in what appeared to be some kind of computer lab. There were two people in front of them. There was a boy on a bed, wearing some kind of head gear, and an older man in a lab coat standing over him, typing away at a computer that seemed to be connected to the head gear. 

“Is that...is that you?” Kirito asked, pointing at the boy on the bed. The ghost boy nodded. “And the man?” The ghost didn’t respond. “You...you’re...you’re trapped in Aincrad, aren’t you?” The boy nodded again. “How? Where?” The boy put his hand on Kirito’s forehead again, and Kirito was instantly taken back to Aincrad, this time in front of what appeared to be a shut dungeon entrance. 

“Kirito!” He heard Asuna call out to him.

“Kazuto where are you?” That was Leafa’s voice. 

“I’m over here!” 

The group of girls came running over to him. Asuna threw her arms around him.  
“Kirito don’t scare us like that.” 

“What is this place?” Sinon asked. 

“I don’t know,” said Kirito. “The ghost took me here.” He tried to open the entrance to the dungeon, but an error message came up. 

“AREA NOT AVAILABLE TO PLAYERS...ADMINISTRATOR CLEARANCE REQUIRED.” 

“Asuna,” said Kirito. “I think this is where we’ll need Rinko’s help.”


	3. The Hidden Chapter

“Kirito, get your elbows off the table,” said Asuna as she nudged her boyfriend. They had been waiting at a restaurant for several minutes. 

“You’re sure this is the place Rinko wanted us to meet her?” Kirito asked. 

“They wouldn’t have been expecting us if it wasn’t,” said Asuna. “I’m sure she’s just running a bit late.” 

No sooner had Asuna spoken than had Rinko walked into the room. 

“Ms. Yuuki, Mr. Kirigaya, it’s a pleasure to see you two again,” she said as she took her seat opposite the couple. 

“You seemed pretty eager to meet after Asuna told you what we saw,” said Kirito. “Do you know what’s causing the ghost to appear?” 

“Possibly,” said Rinko reluctantly, looking away as she said it. “Right now, we won’t know anything for sure unless you kids can get into that dungeon you found.”

“And something tells me you can get us in,” said Kirito. “It requires administrator clearance, and I’m willing to bet you’ve got it. Do you know what we’ll find in there?” 

“I honestly don’t...I wish I could tell you more, but I don’t want to implicate either of you in anything.” 

“Implicate us?” Asuna asked. “What do you mean by that?” 

“All you need to know for now is that I’m sure whatever you find in that dungeon will be the answer behind this ghost mystery. Did either of you bring your Amosphere with you?” 

“I did,” said Kirito, pulling out his dive gear from his backpack. 

Rinko got out her laptop and hooked it up to Kirito’s headset. After typing away for a few minutes, she disconnected it. “You now have Akihiko Kayaba’s security clearance in Aincrad. Please use it responsibly. That’s all I can say for now.” 

“I trust you, Rinko,” said Kirito, “because of all you’ve done for Asuna and myself. But after we find whatever’s in that dungeon, I want some more answers.” At that, he and Asuna left. 

“Could it be...” Rinko began, “him?” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kirito, Asuna, Leafa, Lisbeth, Silica, Sinon, Klein, and Agil all met in their cabin in Aincrad. 

“Thanks for coming, everyone,” said Kirito. “Whatever Rinko thinks we’re going to find in that dungeon, I get the feeling there’ll be some pretty tough monsters guarding it. It’ll take all of us to clear it.” 

“Leave it to our boy Kirito to find a hidden dungeon on the first floor of Aincrad,” said Klein. “You’re out of your mind if you think I’m missing this.” 

The group made their way to the dungeon entrance. When the error message appeared again, Kirito entered in Kayaba’s access code, and the gate opened. 

“Huh?” Lisbeth grunted. “Stairs? That’s not very original.” 

“What’d you expect?” Sinon asked. “Some kind of elaborate fiery gate or something?”

“Well I’m just saying, is all.” 

They entered and began their descent. After making their way down for a while, they came into an open area, decorated with statues of goblins. 

“I can’t believe we haven’t seen a single monster yet,” said Klein. 

“Daddy! Mommy!” Yui cried. “The statues have HP!” Sure enough, as Kirito took a step forward, the first set of statues turned into actual goblins. 

“You just had to open your big mouth,” said Lisbeth. 

“Well, let’s get to it, guys,” said Kirito. “We’ll take them in teams of two! Asuna, you’re with me!” Everyone rolled their eyes at the typical duo teaming up. “Lisbeth, you and Silica take the right flank and Klein and Agil can handle the left. Sinon and Leafa, give us cover!”   
He, Asuna, Klein, Lisbeth, Silica, and Agil charged in, while Leafa and Sinon hung back to blast them from afar with spells and arrows. 

As they made their way further through the hall, more waves of goblins came to life and blocked their path, but they just kept fighting their way through. Finally they came to one last, much larger statue of a cave troll, which came to life and blocked their way to the door at the end of the hall. 

“The boss monster has to be beyond that door,” said Kirito.

“Guess we gotta take care of this guy first, though,” said Agil. 

“Let’s get to work,” said Klein. 

The friends charged the troll. Kirito and Asuna took the first wave, fending off the beast’s attacks. 

“Switch!” Kirito shouted, as Lisbeth and Silica subbed in. 

“Leafa,” said Sinon. “Let’s work on getting rid of that head gear it’s wearing.”

“Right,” said Leafa, as she continued to chant. 

“Switch!” Silica yelled, calling for Agil and Klein’s backup. 

“This ain’t so bad,” said Klein. Just as he said that, the troll knocked him to the ground with its hammer, then raised its weapon. “Man, I really do have a big mouth,” he said as he braced himself for the attack. Just then, three poison arrows struck the troll in its chest and it recoiled.

“That’s one you owe me, dumbass,” said Sinon. Klein just sighed in relief.

“Thanks to Sinon’s arrows, that thing will lose HP faster,” said Asuna. 

“Switch!” Agil yelled. Kirito and Asuna tagged back in. Kirito drew his second sword and began cutting up the troll. It went to chase after them, but ice began to form around its feet, keeping it in place. 

“Nice spell, Leafa!” Kirito said. “Asuna, one more push and he should be done.” He spun into the air, knocking the monster’s helmet off. “Asuna, now!”

Asuna leapt into the air and jabbed the troll directly in its forehead with her rapier, causing its HP to drop to zero. 

“Man we make one hell of a team,” said Klein. 

“Yeah, we all played our parts well,” said Lisbeth. “Even you as the bait.” 

As Klein rolled his eyes, Leafa and Asuna casted spells to replenish all of their HP. 

“Be ready guys,” said Kirito. “Whatever’s on the other side of this door is going to be much tougher. As he opened it, it revealed a large chamber, lit by torches. 

“Where’s the monster?” Silica asked. 

“Look,” said Sinon. “I bet the boy is behind that door.” She was pointing up at a door, high on a ledge of the other side of the chamber. “That’s going to be difficult enough to get to without fighting a boss monster.”

Just then, a flame appeared in the center of the chamber, and from it, emerged a giant, winged creature. With dark red skin, large horns on its head, glowing yellow eyes, and a large, flaming scimitar as a weapon, it loomed over the group and let out a monstrous roar. 

“Guess that explains the roar people hear when they see the ghost,” said Agil.

“Mommy! Daddy! That’s Argog, the Fire Demon!” Yui cried. “It was an original monster designed for SAO but Akihiko Kayaba scrapped it from the game because it was too difficult to beat. 

“Welp,” said Lisbeth. “This sucks.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*on the 100th floor of Aincrad* 

A group of players readied themselves to take on the final boss of Aincrad. 

“Damn,” said one of them. “I can’t believe we’re finally here.”

“Yeah,” said another. “No one’s even seen this boss since the Augma incident when that kid and his friends took it on during the Yuuna show.” 

They opened the door, only to be shocked not to see the boss monster, but instead, the original final boss of ALO: Oberon, the Fairy King. 

“Well,” said Oberon. “How the hell did you brats get all the way up here?”


	4. What Lies Beyond the Door

“Damn it!” Klein cursed. “You guys see how much HP that thing has?”

“This ain’t gonna be easy,” said Agil. 

The monster swung its sword at the group, causing them to scatter. 

“Yui, see if I can use Kayaba’s access code to activate our flying function in here.” 

“On it, daddy!” Yui said. After a moment, she shook her head. “I’m sorry, daddy, it’s impossible. The wings are foreign a program. You would have to log out and try doing it from your home computer.”

“Damn, that would take too much time,” said Kirito. “That thing’ll kill everyone by then.” 

“Leafa,” said Asuna, “got any spells that might work?” 

Leafa shook her head. “I can keep boosting our HP but based on that thing’s strength level it’ll only be a matter of time until I can’t keep it up that high.” 

“Fire blast coming in five seconds!” Yui shouted, giving everyone just enough time to get out of the way. 

“Hold on,” said Sinon. “This isn’t a typical quest or dungeon, and Kirito has Kayaba’s clearance...”

“Something tells me you’ve got an idea,” said Lisbeth. 

“Well, maybe the play isn’t to beat that thing. Like Yui said, it’s one of the hardest bosses to beat in Aincrad. If the rest of you pull aggro from it, I can use my arrow spell to scale the wall. I have a high enough strength level to take one of you with me.” 

“I hate to say it, but I think that’s the best way to go about this, Kirito,” said Asuna. 

“I don’t know,” said Kirito. “It just doesn’t feel right. Like it’s cheating.”

“Does anyone else think there seems to be a lot of talking during this boss fight?” Klein asked as Argog swing it’s scimitar at them again. “At this rate we’ll run out of places to scatter to.” 

“It’s not cheating Kazuto,” said Leafa. “Remember, this mission isn’t to beat the monster, it’s to get to the other side of that door.”

Kirito thought for a moment and then nodded. “I’ll go with Sinon up the wall. The rest of you try not to die before we come back.” 

“Easy for you to say,” said Lisbeth as she and Silica narrowly missed being swept up by the monster’s tail. 

Sinon chanted as she armed her bow. Her arrow turned into a golden rope and she launched it at the top of the ledge where the door was. Kirito grabbed on and they began to scale the wall. 

“Hey ugly, over here!” Klein shouted as Argog turned its gaze away from the ledge and charged at the rest of them. 

As Kirito and Sinon made it to the top of the ledge, Kirito looked back at his friends.   
“We’re almost there,” said Sinon. “Don’t get cold feet now.” Kirito nodded and put in the access code, opening the door. 

They entered a room as the door shut behind them, and were amazed to see a teenage boy suspended horizontally in midair, asleep.   
“That’s...that’s him,” said Kirito. “The ghost.” They approached him and Kirito once again put in his access code as a menu popped up. 

“WARNING. THIS IS NOT A PART OF IN-GAME PROCEDURE. DO YOU WISH TO CONTINUE?” 

“Yes,” said Kirito. 

The boy immediately dropped from the air.

“Kirito, quick!” Sinon said as she and Kirito rushed to catch him. As they just barely stopped him from crashing onto the hard floor, his eyes opened. 

“Where...where am I?” asked the boy as as he opened his eyes and met Sinon’s. “Who are you?” 

“You don’t remember me?” Sinon asked. “Or him?” She nodded at Kirito. 

The boy shook his head. “Should I?”

“I’m Kirito. And this is Sinon. You’re in a virtual reality game called Alfeim Online.”

“I-I’m in a what?” 

“Don’t worry, it’s nothing like SAO.”

“I don’t understand...what you’re saying.” 

They helped him up. 

“Do you remember anything?” Sinon asked. “Who you are? How you got here?” 

“My...my name’s Mato. Mato Mikegura. I don’t remember anything else. One minute I was in the car with my father, late at night, and the next I was waking up in your arms.” 

“Yui, do you have any files on Mato Mikegura.” 

“I’ll check right away, daddy!” Yui said as she appeared. 

“Woah! What the hell is that thing? And where did it come from?” Mato exclaimed. 

“Don’t worry,” said Sinon. “Like Kirito said, you’re in a video game.”

“You said it again,” said Mato. “What do you mean ‘in a video game’?” 

“Wait, Mato,” began Kirito. “What year do you think it is?” 

“2019,” said Mato. 

Kirito and Sinon looked at each other. “Oh shit,” they both said in unison. 

“Kirito, we don’t exactly have time to catch him up on everything he’s missed,” said Sinon. “Our friends are out there fighting the toughest monster they’ve ever gone up against.”

“I’ve got it!” Yui cried. “‘Mato Mikegura’s Memories,’ dated 2019. It appears to be a backup from an original data source.” She materialized a data file. “Mato, if you put your hand on this file, you should remember how you got here.”

Reluctantly, Mato did as Yui told him. As he absorbed the file, lines of code streamed through his eyes. In minutes, his personality completely changed. 

“I see,” he said. “I was in a car crash. My body was lost, but my mind was preserved on the old Aincrad server. When you restored Aincrad, Kirito, my mind was restored as well, but my memory was lost.”

“That’s awful,” said Sinon. “Who did this to you?”

“My father...and Akihiko Kayaba.”

“What? How?” Kirito asked. 

As Mato was about to answer, an enormous explosion sounded from outside the room. “There’ll be time to explain further later. Your friends are fighting Argog out there, right?” He looked at Kirito, and then at Sinon. “Sinon, you’re an archer, right?”

Sinon nodded. 

“Administrative access code...Mato Mikegura...system command! Generate object. ID...Bifrost!” A golden crossbow materialized in Sinon’s hands. 

“No way,” she said. “This is the Bifrost. A legendary weapon.” 

“That weapon’s not even available in game yet,” said Kirito. 

“A shot from that should kill Argog,” said Mato. “And the best part is you don’t even need to load it. It will generate and fire its own arrows, each specifically armed to exploit the weaknesses of its target.”

At that, they left the room, and found that several of the others had lost quite a bit of HP.   
“Sinon, the Bifrost!” Mato shouted. 

Sinon took aim, and fired. The shot went straight through Argog and completely depleted it’s HP, causing it to explode. 

“Woah,” said Klein. “How did Sinon get that weapon?”

“My guess it has something to do with him,” said Lisbeth, pointing at Mato. 

The group took Mato back to their cabin.  
“Alright,” said Kirito. “What happened back there? Yui loaded your file and you just became the ultimate cheat in this game.” 

“How did you get here, Mato?” Asuna asked. 

“My father and his business partner, Akihiko Kayaba, brought me here,” said Mato. Everyone’s jaw dropped. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Fairy King Oberon finished off the players on the hundredth floor of Aincrad.   
“If I’m here, in Aincrad, then that means someone woke up that twerp. And my body must be incapacitated in real life. I’ll bet anything that little shit Kirito is behind this. Well, I better get to work.”


	5. The Secret of Mato Mikegura

“Wait,” began Lisbeth, “you mean your dad helped Akihiko Kayaba design Sword Art Online?”

Mato shook his head. “If Kayaba had any plans for SAO back then, my dad never knew, or at least he never said anything to me about it. No, my dad worked with Kayaba on another project, one that was very close to our family. You see, when I was just a little boy, and my sister just an infant, my mother was stricken ill. There was nothing the doctors could do. Eventually we lost her.”

“That’s terrible,” said Asuna.

“It tore us all up, but my father especially. Over time, he began to develop this theory. You see, he posited that everything that makes up a person’s mind, soul, and consciousness, is the information their brain sends throughout the rest of their body. Thoughts, feelings, emotions, memories...according to his theory, they were all just advanced forms of data that could be backed up if given the proper technology. I was too young to understand exactly what he was talking about but he seemed obsessed. He was sure that if this could be done, if anyone were to end up like my mom, their mind could be extracted from their brain and downloaded into another. Anyway, he was a highly respected college professor, and he wrote an article on this theory. While most wrote it off as science fiction, he caught the interest of one young researcher.”

“Akihiko Kayaba,” said Kirito. 

Mato nodded. “Kayaba had the money to fund my father’s research, and the two of them worked tirelessly to develop what they called the ‘mind drive.’ Eventually, they were sure they’d perfected the technology to successfully upload what they called ‘mental data.’ However, that was where they hit a wall. As wealthy and connected as Kayaba was, even he couldn’t get the go-ahead to experiment on a person. If someone volunteered, they could’ve gone ahead with the research, but they couldn’t guarantee that it wouldn’t damage the brain, so no one was crazy enough to consent. I told my father I would volunteer, if it meant saving people like my mom, but he told me I was too young to make that kind of a sacrifice. This is where the data that Yui gave me comes in.” 

“Happy to help,” said Yui, saluting. 

“The next part is from an electronic journal that my father kept. One night, I was in the car with him when we were hit by a truck. Dad made it, but I never woke up from surgery. The doctors told him I had lost too much blood, and that it was only a matter of time before my body shut down. That was when he made the decision to use the mind drive on me. I had already consented to it, and my body was lost anyway. But more than that, he couldn’t bare to bury another family member. He successfully uploaded my mental data to the mind drive and then contacted Akihiko Kayaba and told him what he had done. Kayaba said he was working on a technology that could someday provide my mental data with a virtual body and give me consciousness again, but at the time it was still in the developmental stage.” 

“That must’ve been Sword Art Online,” said Agil. 

“Yes. Kayaba told my father that he had a protected server on which he could store my data, so my dad trusted him in the hopes that he would see me again one day. Then, three years later, SAO launched, and the reports of the death game surfaced. As a known associate of Kayaba’s, naturally my dad was brought in for questioning. Eventually, he was cleared of any suspicions, but tried tirelessly to contact Kayaba, with no luck. And then, two years later, when Kirito cleared SAO and Kayaba was declared dead, my dad accepted that I was lost. That’s where his journal ends.” 

“So when I cleared SAO and Aincrad was destroyed, your mental data must’ve been lost in cyberspace, and when I restored Aincrad here in ALO, it must’ve been automatically reconfigured, with just your memory wiped,” said Kirito. 

“That appears to be correct,” said Mato.

“So that’s what Rinko meant when she said she didn’t wanna implicate us. Kayaba must’ve told her about all of this and when we went to her about the ghost, I’ll bet you anything she suspected it was Mato. Since she knew, she was an accessory to illegal human experimentation.” 

“Wait so what now?” Lisbeth asked. “So now you’re just trapped in virtual reality? What are you going to do now that you’re awake?” 

“I don’t know,” said Mato. “I haven’t really given it much thought until now.” 

“Well I’ll tell you what you’re gonna do,” said Asuna. “You’re going to stay right here in our cabin!” 

“That’s a great idea,” said Leafa. “This place is much cozier than that dungeon you were stuck in.” 

Mato looked shocked. “Huh? You...you’d really let me stay here?”

“Of course,” said Kirito. “Asuna and I bought this cabin with our credits in game, and the only people who’s names are on the deed are in this room now, so no one who doesn’t already know about you would ever come in here.” 

“Hell yeah!” Klein said. “Man, what I wouldn’t give to end up in ALO after I die!”

Lisbeth elbowed Klein in the gut. “Nice one, Mr. Sensitive.” 

“It’s okay,” said Mato. “Klein’s right.” 

“Welp,” began Sinon, “hell’s officially frozen over.” 

“As far as an afterlife goes, there’s a lot worse places to end up than a magical fairy land,” Mato continued. “I...I really appreciate your hospitality. All of you.” 

“Don’t mention it,” said Kirito. “It’s getting pretty late now, and it might be getting time for some of us to log out, but how about we all log in tomorrow and show you the ropes around here? If you’re gonna be staying here it might be good for you to learn to play the game.”

“Sounds good to me,” said Mato. 

“Well count me in,” said Sinon. 

“I’m game,” said Lisbeth. 

“Me too,” said Silica. 

“I ain’t gonna be able to make it,” said Agil. “Gotta run the shop from open to close tomorrow.”

“Yeah I’m gonna have to pass too,” said Klein. “Workin a double tomorrow.” 

“I totally would but I have kendo practice,” said Leafa. 

“Well I guess it’s just you, me, and the ladies, then,” said Kirito. “Except for my sister that is.” 

“Oh crap,” said Asuna. “Should we make up a bed for you or something?” 

“No thank you,” said Mato. “After sleeping for so many years, I’m not exactly tired.”

“Hey Yui,” said Kirito. “Why don’t you stay in ALO tonight and keep Mato company?”

“You got it, daddy!” Yui exclaimed. 

At that, everyone except for Mato and Yui left the game. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rinko Kajiro got off the phone with Asuna.   
“So, it’s true,” she said to herself. “He survived. I don’t understand. Aincrad was destroyed. How is this possible?”

“That’s the golden question, isn’t it?” The voice came from the doorway of Rinko’s office. 

“Kikuoka,” she said. “I should’ve known you’d get involved in all this. I don’t suppose you’ve got any answers for all these weird happenings in the virtual world.” 

“No answers, unfortunately, but some information from the Tokyo penitentiary that you may find interesting.”

“I’m listening.”

“Remember Nobuyuki Sugou?”

“I’ve heard of the creep, yes.” 

“Well, he’s been in a coma since earlier this morning. Just hours after you dined with Kirigaya and Yuuki. Think that’s a coincidence?” 

“Not at all,” said Rinko, shaking.


	6. Trapped in Cyberspace

“So you’re saying just around the time Kirigaya and his friends woke Mikegura up in Aincrad, Sugou was discovered in a coma?” Rinko asked. 

“That’s correct,” said Kikuoka. “I’ve been doing some digging and word in the world of VR is that Oberon the Fairy King has been sighted in Aincrad.” 

“You lost me.”

“Right. You were in the US when ALO was originally launched. Oberon was the originally final boss of the game. But secretly he was also Sugou’s avatar.” 

“Wait, so you think he’s somehow logging into the game, even while he’s in prison?” 

“No, he has no means of performing a normal dive. That said, I know for a fact that Sugou was in contact with Akihiko Kayaba when Professor Mikegura came forward with his mental data theory. If Sugou was intrigued by this theory, there’s no telling what lengths that psychopath went to test it out himself.” 

“You’re not implying...”

“Sugou may have waited until Mikegura became desperate enough to test it out, and upon learning of its success, performed the exact same procedure on himself.” 

“But that doesn’t explain how he’s able to lose consciousness in prison and appear in ALO.”

“Like I said, I don’t have answers, just information and theories. But if I’ve learned anything in the past few years, it’s that Kazuto Kirigaya can get to the bottom of it.” 

“But at what cost, I wonder?” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mato had a menu pulled up in front of him in the cabin.

“Fascinating, Mato,” said Yui. “It seems you can access the internet just like any user on a computer, but at the palm of your hands.” 

“I’ve got so much to catch up on,” said Mato. “I’ve been asleep for so long, and so much has happened in the word.” 

“Well well, hope I’m not interrupting,” said Sinon as she logged in.

“Sinon!” Mato said as he stood up. “You’re early.”

“I had an exam I school and I finished early, so I figured I’d log in and we could get a head start today.”

“I’m game,” said Mato.

“Well, first things first, you’ll have to create an avatar,” said Sinon. “If you walk around this world looking like yourself, people will think you’re an NPC or a quest prompt.” 

“Huh? I didn’t even think of that,” said Mato. “I wonder if I can even officially log in.”

“You should, Mato,” said Yui. “Right now, you’re technically a foreign program. You should be able to log in and from there create a player profile. In fact, you should even be able to log into other VR games from your current state as well.” 

“Hmmm, well in that case, let’s get started. I’ll pick a race...”

“What’s wrong?” Sinon asked. 

“Well, truth be told, I was never much of a gamer in real life,” said Mato. “Any tips, Sinon?” 

“Well, I was new at gaming once too...I guess my best advice would be to go with what you feel. Read the advantages and weaknesses of each race and pick was seems...you.” 

“Well, you’re race seems decent,” Mato began, “but to be honest the thought of having a tail kind of freaks me out...so in that case, maybe gnome. In the few games I’ve played I’ve always preferred to have lots of speed.” 

“There ya go,” said Sinon. “Perhaps we should wait for the others though before we go much further.”

“That’s probably smart,” said Mato. “Yui, any idea when Kirito and the others will be logging in?”

“Mommy and Daddy shouldn’t be too much longer!”

“Great,” said Mato. “So to pass the time, why don’t you tell me a little about yourself, Sinon? I watched a recording of the last Bullet of Bullets. Are you this much of a badass in real life?” 

“Ya know,” began Sinon, “it’s bad gamer etiquette to talk about real life.”

“Well, I’m not a gamer.” 

“Touché. Well, actually, I was always much more shy IRL. In fact, I started playing Gun Gale Online to become a completely different, more confident person. I...”

Mato sensed that Sinon was remembering something traumatic. “I didn’t mean to pry. Please don’t feel like you have to explain anything to me.”

“N-no. I’ve come a long way. I want to talk about it. When I was younger, I went to the post office with my mom, and there was a holdup at gunpoint. The gunman turned his gun on my mom, and I rushed him and got his gun away from him. He tried to wrestle it away from me, and...I...ended up shooting him to death.” 

“My god, Sinon, I had no idea. I can’t imagine what that must feel like.”

“Well at first, I was a total mess. In fact, I eventually had to move out of town. Because of her job, my mom couldn’t move with me. I suffered from extensive PTSD. Even looking at a picture of a gun triggered a panic attack. And then I discovered GGO. I became Sinon the sniper, and I thought I could become a strong person who wasn’t afraid of guns. It was Kirito and the others who taught me that VR games weren’t about becoming someone else entirely, but finding the strength inside the person you already were that you didn’t know you had.” 

“Wow,” said Mato. “I can’t believe how brave you are Sinon. I can’t even bring myself to search my family on the internet.” 

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I’m just too afraid of what I’ll find. What did my dad do after my passing? And my sister...how did all this affect her?”

“Mato, that doesn’t mean you’re not brave. It just means you care about your family. You’ve only been awake for a day. You’ll look your family up when you’re good and ready. And you know what? I’ll be there when you do.” 

Mato nodded, reassured. “Thanks Sinon.” 

“What do we have here, huh,” said Kirito, as he, Asuna, Lisbeth, and Silica logged in. 

“Smartass,” said Sinon. “We were waiting for you all so we could get going.”

“Well, it looks like you’ve already got your avatar,” said Asuna. “Where should we start?”

“Probably with the basics,” said Kirito. “Like flying and activating sword skills.” 

“Well what’re we waiting for?” Silica asked. “Let’s go!” She was met with a screech from Pina as they all left the cabin. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Here we are,” said Kikuoka, as he and Rinko walked into an office at the Ministry of Internal Affairs. “All of the research we confiscated from Sugou. I was pretty sure we read over most of it, but it’s possible I missed something.” 

“It would’ve been pretty hard to look for something else when you’ve got the whole issue of kidnapping the minds of Asuna and the other SAO survivors on your mind,” said Rinko.

“Indeed,” said Kikuoka. “He may very well have had some kind of fail-safe programmed into his ALO avatar that went unnoticed due to the heinousness of the crime we were already investigating.”

Kikuoka and Rinko did some digging around, until finally Rinko pulled some kind of encrypted file. 

“Looks like a bunch of hacker nonsense,” said Kikuoka. “Think you can crack it?” 

“I’ll see what I can do.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mato sliced through a boar with his sword, causing it to explode. 

“Hey, you’re a natural,” said Kirito. 

“Yeah I have to admit,” said Sinon, “you’re picking all of this up rather quickly.” 

“Well,” said Mato, “it helps that I uploaded everything I could about every program connected to the Seed.” 

“Yeah, that’ll do it,” said Lisbeth. “Anyway, Silica, we should probably log out and get to work on that homework.” 

“Crap, Kirito!” Asuna said. “We’re supposed to meet my mom for dinner!”

“That’s right,” said Kirito. “Best not to keep her waiting. Sorry we’ve gotta bail on you like this, Mato.” 

“It’s totally fine,” said Mato, as the four of them logged out. “How about you, Sinon? Do you have to log out?”

“Nope,” said Sinon. “Like I said, I had an exam today, so no homework. And my mom doesn’t live with me, so it’s just me at home. And, uh” she blushed, “no boyfriend to meet up with or anything.” 

“Oh,” Mato blushed too, “well I guess we’ve got some more time to play then.” 

“Hey, I know! Want me to show you around my favorite game, GGO?”

“Yeah, that sounds great!” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Shit!” Rinko cursed.

“What is it?” Kikuoka asked. 

“I need to call Asuna ASAP!”


	7. He’s Back!

Kirito and Asuna were enjoying dinner with Asuna’s mother when Asuna’s phone rang.

“That’s Rinko,” said Asuna. “I should take this.” 

“It’s rude to answer the phone at the dinner table, you know,” said Ms. Yuuki, only to be completely ignored as her daughter stood up and took the call. “I swear sometimes...anyway, Kazuto, Asuna tells me you’re looking to get into computer science.” 

“Yes ma’am,” said Kirito. “I’ve taken all sorts of courses in the field at the survivor school, and I’ve got a recommendation from Sejirou Kikuoka from the Ministry of Internal Affairs.”

“Impressive, but if you’d like, I can talk to Asuna’s father. I’m sure he’d be more than happy to make a few phone calls for you.”

“Y-yes, that’d be really great, ma’am!” 

“And please, call me Kyouko.”

“No way!” Asuna came back over to the table, visibly distraught. 

“Oh are you finally gracing is with your presence?” Kyouko asked.

“Nobuyuki Sugou’s been sighted online,” said Asuna. 

“What?” Kyouko and Kirito asked in unison. 

“I’ve got to call your father,” said Kyouko. “I’d tell you to stay off those gadgets of yours, but I know it’ll fall on deaf ears. Just stay safe, both of you. He’ll be after you both.” 

“Kirito, we’ve got to warn the others. They have no idea.”

“Right,” said Kirito. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mato fired away at moving targets with his automatic rifle.

“Hey, you’re getting the hang of this,” said Sinon. “Keep it up and maybe we could enter a tag-team tournament together.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment, coming from the number one sniper in GGO,” said Mato. 

“Hey now, flattery won’t get you very far around here,” she said, lightly tapping his shoulder with her fist. “But it does earn you some points I suppose.” She leaned in to kiss him on the cheek, but he turned to say something at the same time, causing an accidental kiss on the lips. Realizing what just happened, Sinon’s eyes widened and she pulled back, her face turning beat red. Mato looked equally as shocked and embarrassed. “I-I-I’m so sorry, I meant to...”

“I know and then I...” said Mato. “I don’t want you to think I’d...”

“No, no, I don’t think...”

There was a long pause. 

“Perhaps it’s time to go back to ALO?” Mato asked. 

“Um, yes, that’s a good idea,” said Sinon. They logged out of GGO and back into ALO and sat in silence for a bit, each of them trying to get up the courage to address what had happened between them. Before either one spoke, however, Leafa logged in. 

“Oh, hey guys. Are you the only ones still online?” Leafa asked. 

“Yes, we just got back from GGO,” said Sinon, relieved that the awkward moment had passed. 

“Oh, cool! My kendo lesson just ended and I was gonna try to do a bit of leveling before I turn in for the night? Do you guys wanna join?”

“Sounds like fun,” said Mato.

The three of them headed out and began some light monster hunting, until they heard an awkward, nasally voice call out from the distance.

“Leafaaaa!” 

“Huh? Recon?” Leafa wondered aloud. Sure enough, the short, energetic Sylph came running over to them, panting. “I didn’t know you made it to this floor of Aincrad.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? That I can’t get this high? Like you and your cool friends that you never let me hang out with?”

“It’s not like that, Recon, honest.” 

“Yeah,” said Sinon. “Klein’s not that cool.” 

“Um, so is this like your boyfriend or something, Leafa?” Mato asked. 

“What? No!” Leafa snapped, just as Recon was about to answer the question himself.

“Recon is one of Leafa’s classmates from school IRL,” said Sinon.

“Oh,” said Mato. “Nice to meet you man. I’m Mato.” He extended his hand. 

“Pleased to make your-wait, I don’t have time for this. Leafa the reason I came here is to tell you that Oberon the Fairy King is in Aincrad!”

“What?” Leafa and Sinon asked. 

“Who?” Mato asked.

“He was the original boss for ALO,” said Leafa.

“But he was secretly this creep that tried to marry Asuna and kill Kirito,” added Sinon. 

“Oh right,” said Mato. “I read about that online. Wasn’t he some creepy psychopath who ended up in prison though?”

“Well he’s been seen killing players in game,” said Recon. “And when he kills a player they can’t log back in. Their account completely bugs out.” 

“If Sugou is back, I need to get to Kazuto ASAP,” said Leafa.

“Oh you’re not going anywhere, blondie,” said Oberon, appearing before the group.


	8. Failsafe

“That’s him, I’m assuming,” said Mato.

“Yeah,” said Leafa. 

“So, you’re Kirgaya’s sister, from what I hear,” said Oberon. 

“Leafa, you should log out now,” said Sinon. 

“And just how do you propose she does that?” Oberon asked.

They were all horrified as they realized he removed the logout button from their menus. 

“You’re my ticket to getting my revenge, honey!”

“Two can play at that game,” said Mato. “Override administrative control. Logout function.” Their logout buttons returned, and Leafa and Recon logged out. 

“Just how did you do that?” Oberon asked. “Who the hell are you?”

“Sinon, you should logout too,” said Mato. “I can hold him off while you all find Kirito and Asuna.” 

“Hell no,” said Sinon. “That creep almost killed Kirito. I’m not leaving you alone with him. Besides, you just started playing this game, and he created it. You’ll need help.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Suguha sat up in her bed just as Kirito and Asuna barged in. 

“Don’t log in!” All three of them screamed this. 

“So you’ve heard already?” Suguha asked. 

“Rinko called to warn me,” said Asuna. “She thinks we activated some kind of failsafe in ALO when we woke Mato up. 

“Is everyone logged out?” Kirito asked.

Suguha shook her head. “Recon and I did, but Sinon and Mato were still with him. Kazuto, Mato can’t leave. He’s stuck there with Sugou.” 

“You’re right,” said Kirito as he got out his Amosphere.

“Kirito!” Asuna grabbed his hand. “Last time...he almost...”

Kirito kissed her. “He won’t. I’ve got Akihiko Kayaba’s clearance. And I’ve gotta help Mato.” He lied down and put on his head gear. “Blink start!” 

Kirito came into the cabin and immediately flew to where Suguha had told him she logged out from. He looked down and saw Oberon locked into a sword fight with Mato as Sinon fired arrows from the Bifrost. 

“Sinon! Mato!” He swooped in. 

“Switch!” Mato called out as Kirito subbed in.

“Remember me, creep?” 

“How could I forget? What? No Asuna?” 

“If you think I’m letting her anywhere near you...” 

“No matter, I’ll just scan your mind and download myself into your body!” As he reached out to grab Kirito, he had to dive to the ground as an arrow blew by him. 

“Please,” said Sinon. “This isn’t your world anymore. We’re going send you packing, for good this time.” 

“Hahahahaha!” Oberon laughed. “How do you intend to stop me if your accounts get deleted?” His sword started to glow red and he flew straight at Sinon.

“You dick! She’s a sitting duck!” Kirito called out. 

“Sinon!” Mato cried as he tackled Oberon in midair. 

“You’ve gotten on my last nerve, you brat!” He stabbed straight through Mato with the red sword, causing Mato’s avatar to disintegrate and changing him back to his normal, human look. “Well well well, Mato Mikegura. Long time no see.” 

“You...you know me?” Mato asked as he dropped to his knees. 

“Know you? I went to your funeral. Kayaba and I attended because your father had something he wanted to give him. They thought they were keeping me in the dark but my informants let me in on what they were working on. I knew your father was going to pass the mind drive off to Kayaba at your funeral, and when I saw him do it, it was all the confirmation I needed. I hacked into Professor Mikegura’s computer and sure enough I found the formula, and used it on myself. Fast forward five years to when I created Alfeim Online. The perfect place to store my backed up mental data. After Kirigaya messed up my plans the first time around, all I needed was for someone to activate my file. My body, wherever it is, is in a comatose state while I’m free to rule in here! But I had no idea you were still in tact, Mato. When old Aincrad was destroyed, Rinko and myself were sure that you, along with Kayaba, were lost.” 

“So it stands to reason that if I waste you again you’ll snap back to prison.” Kirito said as he drew Excalibur. 

“Not so fast,” said Oberon as he pulled up a menu. He typed in a code and all of a sudden a bolt of electricity struck Mato.

“Mato!” Sinon screamed as she ran at them. “What did you do to him?” 

“Oh he’ll be fine, so long as I am, too. I’ve installed a bug that permanently links our mental data. If I get deleted, he does, and vice versa. Try explaining that to your pal Kikuoka at the Ministry, Kirigaya. I’m sure he’ll understand that your new virtual buddy is more important than stopping me. Hahahahaha! So long brats, I’ve got work to do.” At that, a dragon swooped down and gripped Mato with its claw. Oberon hopped on its back. “If you want to see your little friend again, you and Asuna will meet me on my own private server, the URL to which I’ll send you in twelve hours. Oh, and you might not want to tell Kikuoka or any of those other fools about where I am.” The dragon flew away. Kirito and Sinon attempted to chase it but a hoard of goblins materialized in their path.

“Damn it!” Kirito grunted as he and Sinon began fighting through the goblins.


	9. Search and Rescue

“It’s all my fault,” said Kirito. He and the rest of the gang were at Dicey’s, awaiting Sugou’s message. “I totally thought he was after Asuna and myself, but when he learned who Mato was his whole plan changed.” 

“You couldn’t have known, Kirito,” said Asuna. 

“Asuna’s right,” said Agil. “Sugou knows you. He knows how protective you are of all of your friends, even the new ones. Kidnapping and bugging Mato was his way of guaranteeing you and Asuna meet his demands instead of just turning him in.” 

“We’ll get Mato back,” said Asuna. “We will.” 

“And then what?” Lisbeth asked. “If we don’t want anything to happen to Mato we can’t let Kikuoka or anyone else get their hands on Sugou’s mental data.” 

“We’ll figure something out,” said Agil. 

“Hell yeah we will,” said Klein, standing up. “I say as soon as we get the URL from that creep we all log in and hit him with everything we got, no holding back! Then once we get Mato back we’ll worry about debugging him.” 

“Klein that’s just about the smartest thing I’ve ever heard you say,” said Lisbeth. 

“Absolutely not,” said Kirito. “Sugou just demanded that Asuna and I show up. There’s no reason for any of the rest of you to put yourselves in danger.” 

“As if,” said Sinon. “Mato’s not just your friend, you know. He’s ours too and we want him back just as much as you do.” 

“Sinon’s right,” said Silica. “We’re one big virtual family, and Mato’s apart of that now. We’ve all got to go help him.” 

“Looks like you ain’t keeping us out of this one, Kirito,” said Agil. 

Just then, Kirito’s phone buzzed. He checked it.   
“This is it,” he said. “The URL plus instructions how to access it with the Amosphere. Are you guys all sure about this?” They all stood up and nodded. “Alright then. Let’s get going. Everyone log in and meet on the server in one hour.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The group logged into the server. 

“Thanks for coming guys,” said Kirito. 

“Talk about a blast from the past,” said Agil. “It’s like we’re back in SAO.”

“It appears you have the choice of using whichever avatar from the Seed network you wish on this server,” said Yui. “I’ve taken the liberty of logging you all in as the avatars you’re most accustomed to.” 

Kirito, Asuna, Lisbeth, Silica, Klein, and Agil were all in their avatars from SAO, while Sinon was in hers from GGO and Leafa the same from ALO. 

They all arrived on a large platform. Once they were all there, it lowered itself onto a stairway in the middle of a desolate wasteland.

“Well I have to admit,” said Sinon, “I feel better about going into a fight with a fairy king with my hecate.” 

They reached the bottom of the stairs when they saw it: Mato chained up and gagged.

“Mato!” Sinon shouted as she ran toward him. 

“Sinon, wait!” Kirito cried. The dragon that had captured Mato swooped down and nearly crushed Sinon. Immediately, the rest of them drew their weapons and charged the dragon. “Asuna, stay close to me. And be on the look out for Sugou!” 

“Guys, don’t let the creep near Kirito and Asuna,” said Klein. 

As the group engaged the dragon, Sinon took the opportunity to go for Mato. She rolled past the dragon and took the gag out of her friend’s mouth. 

“Sinon, you shouldn’t have come,” said Mato. “It’s a trap.” 

“What do you mean?” Sinon asked. 

“He’s rigged the server to remove the logout button. And Kirito and I don’t have the clearance on this server to hack into it. And to make it worse, by connecting to this URL with your Amospheres, they’re now infected with a virus that’ll cause them to short circuit if your HP hits zero. It can’t microwave your brain like the Nervegear, but it could still be dangerous.” 

“But the Amosphere is supposed to be safe,” said Sinon. “How could he do that?”

“He’s a hacker. In virtual reality that makes very few things impossible.” 

“Well, we’re here now. We’ll figure it out.” She drew her rifle. “Do you have a weapon?” Mato shook his head, so she gave him her handgun. “This’ll have to do then.” They ran over to join their friends. “Kirito, did you hear that?”

“Yeah,” said Kirito. “Looks like we’ve got an old Aincrad situation.”

“Perfect,” said Lisbeth. “Another death game.” 

“Sinon! Mato! Give us cover fire. Everyone else, surround it. If it takes aim at you, jump out of the way. Let’s go!” Kirito lead the charge as they continued to wear down the dragon’s HP, until finally it turned red. “Asuna, now!” Kirito called out. Asuna jumped in and used the eleven hit combo she had gotten from Yuuki and finished off the dragon, causing it to explode. 

“I don’t get it,” said Agil. “If this is Sugou’s own server, why not just take away our ability to fight?”

“He can’t, Agil,” said Yui. “I’ve imported your avatars other games. “Since he no longer has admin privileges to those, he can’t affect them. The only who’s vulnerable is-“

“Me,” said Mato. 

“Well, not just you,” said Oberon as he floated down to greet his guests.

“Asuna, get back!” Kirito cried. But it was too late. Two goblins ambushed her and tied her up. 

“Hahahaha! Don’t worry, Kirigaya, I’ll take good care of her. Unfortunately for you all, you won’t be around to watch. Except for you, of course, Mikegura. You’re my golden ticket.” 

“Let her go!” Leafa cried. 

“Aren’t you a little old to be playing fairy king anyway?” Lisbeth asked. 

“You’re absolutely right,” said Oberon. “This form doesn’t quite fit in this word.” His appearance began to change. He grew claws, sharp teeth, and yellow eyes. And his fairy wings turned into bat-like wings. “Behold, I am now Urk, the Goblin King! Hahahaha!” 

“This can’t be good,” said Agil.


	10. The Goblin King

“Enjoy getting your minds scrambled! Hahahaha!” Sugou laughed. “Now, Mikegura, make this easy on yourself and come with me.”

“Not a chance!” Mato snapped. 

“The hard way it is, then.” The goblin king snapped his fingers and more goblins appeared, surrounding the group. 

Sinon took aim. “I think I can get a shot off at Sugou.” Before she pulled the trigger, a goblin rammed into her, knocking the bullet off course. Mato shot the goblin in the head with the handgun. 

“Looks like this is going to get ugly,” said Kirito. “Let’s do this!” They all began to fight their way through the goblin hoard, as Sugou and Asuna watched on. Then, one of the goblins caught Klein with its dagger.

“Ouch!” Klein yelled. “That really hurt!” 

“Of course it did,” said Sugou. “Why would I bother installing pain absorption for the likes of you? Every bit of damage you take in here is going to feel like the real deal.”

“Kazuto,” said Leafa. “If he didn’t install pain absorption, that means...”

“It’ll feel real to him too,” said Kirito. He thought back to how the tables turned back in ALO when he inflicted damage to Sugou. “If I can just get close enough...” 

The group continued to fight through the goblins. Asuna watched in horror, hoping that none of her friends got seriously hurt. I feel so useless, she thought. If I could just get my hands on my rapier...

“Sugou,” she said. “If...if I come with you willingly, will you let them log out? Please? For me?” 

“Do my ears deceive me, my dear?” Sugou seemed shocked as Asuna stood up and leaned on him, bringing her face closer to his. 

“I give in,” she said softly. “I’ll run away with you and marry you. Just let my friends go. Please. For me.” Her lips were just inches away from his when he dropped his guard, and she cut her ropes on his sword and drew hers. 

“Huh? You bitch! You tricked me!” 

“Please,” said Asuna as she advanced on her foe. “I’ve known you my whole life, Sugou. You never would’ve let Kirito go. You’re too vengeful, too spiteful...too hateful. If I thought for one second I could save my friends by sacrificing myself I’d do it in a heartbeat, but you’d never allow that. So now I’m going to do what I’ve wanted to do for a very long time. Draw your sword. I want you to be armed when I defeat you.”

“Ugh. Fine. You wanna die with those brats. Have it your way.” Sugou drew his sword and guarded himself against Asuna’s attacks, but he couldn’t hold up for long. He wasn’t a swordsmen, he was a hacker, and all of Asuna’s sword skills and combos had transferred over. She hit him several times with a combo and he writhed in pain, as multiple cuts were left up and down his body. “Arrrggghhh!” He screamed as he dropped to his knees. But then he began laughing. 

“You think this is funny?” Asuna sneered. 

“Actually, yes,” said Sugou. “The fact that you think you’ve won is hilarious. Why don’t you take a look at your virtual pal over there?” He nodded at Mato, who also had cuts all over his body, in the same places that Sugou’s were.

“W-What did you do to him?” 

Sugou picked himself up. “It’s what you did to him, Asuna. When I linked our data, it ensured that his fate would be the same as mine. You wanna kill me? Fine. But you’ll kill him too. 

The goblins stopped attacking. Sinon knelt by Mato’s side as he dropped to the ground in pain. Everyone else stood in place in sheer disbelief. 

“Well, now’s your chance, everyone!” Sugou taunted. “How about it? I’m wide open! Take your best shot! Hahahahahahahahahaha!” 

“Damn it,” said Kirito, dropping his blue sword. “Now what do we do?”


	11. Double Edged Sword

Kirito and the others had their weapons trained on Sugou.

“Damn it,” said Kirito. He threw his swords down. “He’s won. We can’t hurt him without hurting Mato, and we can’t log out. We’re beaten.” 

“Not if I have anything to say about it,” said Mato, standing up and aiming his gun at Sugou. “What’s the point in all of us dying if only I have to?” He pulled the trigger, shooting Sugou in the shoulder. He then instantly screamed in pain as he felt the gunshot in his own shoulder. 

“Mato, stop it!” Sinon cried. “We’ll find another way!” 

“There is no other way, Sinon,” said Mato as he raised the gun again. “Pick up your weapons. Don’t worry about me.” He picked up Kirito’s blue sword. “Let’s kill this bastard!” He charged at Sugou, who had armed himself. Everyone else watched on, unable to bring themselves to raise their weapons. 

As their swords clashed, Sugou became fearful that Mato wasn’t bluffing. “You think this’ll work, you little shit? You really think you can kill yourself?” 

“I died years ago,” replied Mato. “If I go down now, I’ll just be gone. But I wonder what happens if I kill you in here. Will you wake up in prison? Or will you be trapped in some kind of virtual limbo? Personally I think either one is a fitting end for you.” He raised his gun while their swords were crossed, but Sugou stepped back and knocked it away. Mato then took the opportunity to strike Sugou with his sword, slicing him up quite a bit. Of course, this meant that Mato was also cut by each strike. 

“Kirito,” said Asuna. “If he keeps this up he’ll kill himself!” 

“Mato, stop it!” Sinon yelled. “Please!” 

Mato kept going, until finally Sugou gave up, sprouting his wings and snatching up Asuna. “Fine! I’ll just claim my prize and escape to another server, leaving you all to rot here forever!” 

“Asuna!” Kirito cried. He picked up his other sword, but then stopped and looked at Mato. “Mato...or Asuna...damn it!” 

“It’s okay, Kirito,” said Mato. “He won’t get very far.” He turned his sword around, with the blade now pointing at his chest. 

“Mato, what are you doing?” Sinon asked.

“Don’t, Mato!” Asuna cried before Sugou put his hand over her mouth. 

“You...you don’t have to do this,” said Kirito.

“Of course I do,” said Mato. “I owe you guys everything.” He turned to Sinon. “Sinon, we never got to talk about it, but...just...thank you. For everything.” 

“Mato...” said Sinon, tearing up. “Don’t...” 

Mato plunged the sword into his own chest, and he exploded into bits of data.

“Noooooo!” Sugou yelled as he met the same fate. 

“Asuna!” Kirito ran over to catch her as she fell to the ground. “Asuna...he wouldn’t listen to me.” They both began to tear up, as did the rest of the group. 

“That-that idiot,” said Klein. “Why’d he have to go and be the hero?”

“Kazuto,” said Leafa. “You can bring him back right? Like you did with Yui?”

Kirito shook his head. “When we lost Yui in SAO, there was a piece of her left behind. I uploaded that to my Nervegear. There’s nothing of Mato’s to upload.” 

Sinon knelt down by the sword, tears streaming down her face. “Why? Why’d you do it?” 

Yui came out of Kirito’s pocket. “Mommy! Daddy!” 

“Not now, Yui,” said Kirito. “Mommy and Daddy are really sad right now.” 

“But Daddy-“

“Yui, Mato’s been killed,” said Asuna. “We need time to mourn.”

“That’s what I’m trying to say Mommy,” said Yui. “The first night you had me stay with Mato, I suggested he back up his data and store the file with me. Just in case!”

“Are you saying what I think you’re saying, Yui?” Sinon asked as she ran over to them. 

Yui pulled up a menu. “To be extra careful, we decided he should only give one person access to it. Guess who he chose, Sinon!” 

“Huh? He-he chose me? Even before I...kissed him?”

“You did what?!” Lisbeth and Klein shouted. 

“I took the liberty of updating it just before we logged onto this server,” Yui continued. “So he’ll remember everything except for the things that happened here.”

“I...I took a life that day,” said Sinon. “Now...I get to bring someone back.” She reached out and pressed the button on the menu. It then transformed into Mato.

“Hey guys,” he said. “Where are we?”

Sinon, broke into tears again. “You...you stupid jerk!” She began pounding on his chest with her fist. “If you ever pull anything like that again, I’ll...I’ll kill you! I’ll freakin kill you!” 

“What...what are you talking about? Pull what?” 

“We’ll fill you in later,” said Kirito. “Welcome back, buddy.” 

“Is-is she gonna be alright? Hey stop hitting me!” Sinon stopped hitting Mato and threw her arms around his neck, pressing her lips against his. Mato seemed shocked, but then closed his eyes and kissed her back. 

“You’re not off the hook, either,” Asuna said to Kirito as she grabbed his face and kissed him passionately. 

“That so figures,” said Lisbeth, as she and the rest of the group gathered. “We finally get another cute boy to game with and he couples up with Sinon immediately.” Everyone just laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I’m thinking of making this the first of two arcs, like a typical season of SAO. Either way, another chapter or two at least, coming soon! Stay tuned!


	12. A Celebration

“Wow,” said Mato. He and the others were back in ALO and he had created a new avatar. “I can’t believe that. Why didn’t you guys fight him? If I made it clear I was okay with sacrificing myself, why wouldn’t you let me? You’ve only known me a couple days. Asuna’s one of your best friends. Seems like a no-brainer.”

“Are you kidding?” Lisbeth asked. “Once you’re in this squad you’re in for life. No ifs ands or buts.” 

“She’s right,” said Asuna. “You’re one of us now. Either we all come home or none of us do.” 

“I’m serious though,” said Sinon. “If you ever scare me like that again, I’ll light your ass up with a fire arrow.” 

“Yeah,” said Klein. “Wouldn’t wanna upset your new girlfriend, now.” 

“Well,” said Kirito, “you’re not officially a part of this group until you’ve had some of Asuna’s cooking.” 

Asuna and Agil finished preparing the cookout at the cabin and they sat down and ate.

“This is really great, Asuna!” Mato said through a mouth of food.

“I’m glad you like it, Mato. Anyway, Kirito, what did Kikuoka tell you when you spoke with him yesterday?” 

“Well, Sugou woke up. But something’s wrong with him. It’s like his brain’s completely scrambled. He’s just a drooling mess. Like a prisoner in his own body.”

“Wow, I can’t a imagine a worse fate,” said Silica as Pina screeched in a agreement. 

“Yeah, and I can’t imagine someone more deserving of that fate than that creep,” said Lisbeth. 

“No arguments here,” said Asuna. “Now eat up before it gets cold, guys!” 

After the meal, Mato stood up. “Guys...thank you for everything. Taking me in, coming to save me...I really appreciate all of it.” 

“Don’t mention it,” said Kirito. “But I mean if you really wanna pay us back, there’s some quests I’ve been meaning to go on in ALO. I could definitely use a bit of help with those.”

“Yeah,” said Sinon. “I still need a partner for the tag-team tourney in GGO.”

“Sounds good to me,” said Mato, smiling. 

The party went on, and the hours got late. Mato and Sinon ended up speaking in private. “I’m sorry I scared you,” said Mato.

“I’ll let it slide,” said Sinon, grinning. “But Mato, I wanted to ask you something. Back when you were fighting Sugou, you said you already died. It’s just, I was wondering, do you really think that?”

“I’m not sure I follow.”

“Well, you see, to me, and Kirito and Asuna and everyone else, you’re just as alive now as you were before the accident. Your physical body may be gone, but I never knew you before. I know you now though and to me you’re just as real as anyone else. Do you think you’re just a digital copy of yourself? Or do you believe you’re really alive?” 

“Well,” began Mato, “when you put it like that, I guess I’d say I really am alive. I mean, everything I’ve experienced since you guys woke me up...the excitement of battle, anger at Sugou,” he blushed, “my feelings for you, it’s all felt just as real as it would’ve in the real world.” 

Sinon smiled. “Good. I just wanted to know.” She leaned in and kissed him. “If you’re actually going to sleep tonight, I’d like to stay logged in and spend the night with you, if it’s okay with you.” 

Mato nodded. “Hey Sinon? You know how you said you’d be there when I looked up my family online? I...I’d like to do that today.” 

“Of course, Mato. I’d be happy to do that with you.” 

They gathered in the cabin as Mato brought up his internet search menu. “My father...he moved to New York, to teach at NYU! My sister stayed in Tokyo to finish school...I can’t believe how much she’s grown.” He began tearing up. 

“If you want, Asuna and I can track her down IRL and talk to her,” said Kirito. 

Mato shook his head. “Maybe some day I’ll try to contact her, but I’m not sure I’m ready for that just yet.” 

“That’s understandable,” said Asuna. “There’s no rush for something like this. You’re ready when you’re ready.” 

“Well, I’m about to knock out,” said Klein. “Who’s up for a bit of leveling tomorrow?” 

“I’ll be free,” said Silica. 

“I can restore all your weapons,” said Lisbeth. 

“Ugh I think I promised Recon I’d show him around this floor of Aincrad,” said Leafa. 

“Well, bring him along,” said Kirito. “Anyway I better logout too.” He turned to Mato and Sinon. “Sleep tight you two.” 

As everyone else logged out for the night, Sinon kissed Mato on the cheek then rested her head on his shoulder. “Goodnight,” she said. 

“Goodnight, Sinon.”


End file.
